OWAKA LIGHT­NING STRIKE

Owaka res­i­dents were jolted by a sud­den light­ning strike last Wed­nes­day, which took out one of the power poles and left some houses, mainly on Royal Tce, in the dark for more than two hours. A loud ex­plo­sion was fol­lowed by thun­der and peo­ple were left grop­ing for light. Some other res­i­dents and busi­nesses re­ported prob­lems with their modems and tele­vi­sion sets. A Pow­er­net Otago spokesper­son said the light­ning would have hit fuses on the power poles and they would now have been re­placed along the af­fected line.